Young
Neelie Kroes
was one of just five girls in her first year economics class with more than 900 boys at Erasmus University in Rotterdam in 1958.

She hadn’t been interested in maths at secondary school but a university professor inspired her to think that it could be fun and she took out a ­master’s degree, became a research fellow in economics and joined the ­university council.

During a lifetime in business and ­politics, she sat on a bunch of blue chip boards, meted out massive fines to Microsoft as European Competition Commissioner, made the Forbes’ World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list and became known as “Nickel Neelie".

Now, as European Commission vice-president for the digital economy, Ms Kroes is advised by an 11 year old Brussels schoolgirl who teaches ­computer coding to her school teachers, who then teach it to her classmates, and is a passionate advocate for girls ­tackling not just maths at school but technical courses such as computer ­science at university.

“It’s far more important than it’s ever been," Ms Kroes told The Australian Financial Review in an interview. “You should be starting earlier [with] their families. We are still too much on the pink mood for girls and ‘everything can happen for boys’."

Ms Kroes heartily approved the Financial Review’s series of stories about Australian girls limiting their future career options and earning potential by dropping high school maths. She said the situation was not that much better in Europe, and there needed to be fewer constraints and more communication about the ­importance of maths and technology not just for a minority of researchers and innovators, but for many jobs ­connected with the digital economy.

“If those girls or young women who did finalise the right part of their ­education to go to university are not taking computer science, for example, it’s going to get worse and worse in my opinion," she said.

The EC is not directly responsible for education but is doing its best to encourage member states to prioritise maths and computer science courses. It hosts “Coding Week" in October, where kids as young as eight and nine can learn not just gaming but how to ­program a computer, device or ­instrument. “It’s their day off so normally they could go for football or for whatever," Ms Kroes said. “They want to attend because they are fascinated by the type of instrument that they get, that they can just play with it, and not only gaming but making a computer or device more as an instrument that they can push with their way of thinking."

Related Quotes

Company Profile

Finland and Britain are moving to make computer coding part of the school curriculum but Ms Kroes said more needed to be done across the European Union.

“We need to push and there is a willingness but quite often the awareness is not there. People should be aware that it is a main issue and that it is not a matter of, ‘Yes, but I am not interested in maths’," she said.

“Maths can be fun and it’s not just talking about dull stuff. With the coding for example, they can do it their way."

It isn’t just school-kids and students that need educating about the digital world.